GUIDELINES ON INTEGRATED ECONOMIC STATISTICS Draft, subject to final editing Prepared by Friends of the Chair on Integrated Economic Statistics February 2012 1 GUIDELINES ON INTEGRATED ECONOMIC STATISTICS Table of Contents Preface List of abbreviations and acronyms List of case studies Chapter I. INTRODUCTION A. Purpose of the Guidelines B. Content and structure of the Guidelines C. Online access to additional information Chapter II. POLICY NEEDS, BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF INTEGRATED ECONOMIC STATISTICS A. Needs for integrated economic statistics B. Policy needs C. Benefits of integrated economic statistics D. Challenges of integrated economic statistics Chapter III. GENERAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATED ECONOMIC STATISTICS A. Introduction B. Scope of integration C. Building blocks of integration 1. System of National Accounts as conceptual organizing framework 2. Institutional arrangements a. Centralized statistical systems b. Decentralized statistical systems c. Centralization versus decentralization of statistical systems 3. Statistical production process a. Standards and methods b. Business registers and frames 2 c. Surveys and administrative data sources d. Dissemination and communication Chapter IV. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR MANAGING INTEGRATED ECONOMIC STATISTICS A. Introduction B. Legislative, operational, strategic planning and process management framework 1. Legislative framework 2. Codes of practice 3. Strategic planning 4. Process management C. Coordination and governance arrangements 1. Advisory committees 2. Relationship management 3. Memorandums of Understanding 4. Service level agreements 5. Cross-agency teams D. Human and financial resources 1. Human resources 2. Financial resources E. International arrangements for the integration of economic statistics Chapter V. THE STATISTICAL PRODUCTION PROCESS OF INTEGRATED ECONOMIC STATISTICS A. Introduction B. Standards and methods 1. Common concepts, definitions and classifications 3 a. Harmonization of standards with macroeconomic statistics frameworks and classifications b. Definition and classification of statistical units c. Definition and classification of transactions 2. Data processing, data editing, metadata and data warehousing 3. Data quality frameworks C. Business registers and frames D. Surveys and administrative data sources 1. Statistical collection and common language 2. Questionnaire design a. Principles of questionnaire design b. Questionnaire database c. Metadata system d. Questionnaire grouping 3. Use of administrative data sources a. Dealings with administrative authorities b. Advantages and limitations of administrative records c. Mapping of concepts and definitions of administrative sources with statistical uses d. Other types of administrative data E. Dissemination and communication 1. Dissemination 2. Communication 3. Practices of international dissemination and communication Chapter VI. IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED ECONOMIC STATISTICS A. Introduction B. Reconciliation of source data C. Industry accounts 1. Agriculture 4 2. Industry and services D. Input-Output Accounts E. Sector accounts F. International accounts G. Financial accounts H. Labour accounts I. System of price and volume measures J. Regional accounts K. Satellite accounts 1. Tourism satellite accounts 2. Health satellite accounts L. Environmental accounts Annex 1. List of domains for integrated economic statistics Annex 2. References 5 Preface The development of the Guidelines on Integrated Economic Statistics has been initiated by the Statistical Commission as it recognized the significance of an integrated approach for increasing the consistency and coherence of economic statistics to enhance the quality and analytical value of the information the statistics contain for short term, annual and benchmark economic statistics and macroeconomic statistics. At its thirty- seventh session in 2006, the Commission recommended the operational use of an integrated approach to economic statistics in national economic statistics programmes, based on the Report of the Secretary-General on Integrated Economic Statistics (E/CN.3/2006/5), and at its forty-second session in 2011 the Statistical Commission endorsed the draft Guidelines (E/CN.3/2011/37). The present Guidelines have been developed as a collaborative effort of two Friends of the Chair groups created by the Statistical Commission. For the purpose of preparing a concept paper on the modalities of the integrated approach to economic statistics, the thirty-seventh session of the Statistical Commission established the first Friends of the Chair Group on Integrated Economic Statistics (E/CN.3/2006/32), under the leadership of Adelheid Bürgi-Schmelz, Director General of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. The Group discussed its findings at a Workshop on Integrated Economic Statistics, co-organized by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Office of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (UNSD), on 6-8 June 2007 in Berne. The Friends of the Chair presented its final report containing the concept paper on integrated economic statistics at the thirty-ninth session of the Statistical Commission in 2008 (E/CN.3/2008/6). The members of the first Friends of the Chair Group and participants of the workshop in Berne included Denis Farrell (Australia), Marie Brodeur and Michel Girard (Canada), Zhang Weimin (China), Swaraj K. Nath (India), Irena Tvarijonaviciute (Lithuania), Jaime Andres de la Llata Flores and Yuriko Yabuta (Mexico), Marleen Verbruggen and Kees Zeelenberg (Netherlands), Ron McKenzie (New Zealand), Asad Elahi (Pakistan), Rashad Cassim (South Africa), Adelheid Bürgi-Schmelz, Ruth Meier, Michel Di Pietro and Philippe Stauffer (Switzerland), J. Steven Landefeld (United States of America), Werner Bier and Richard Walton (European Central Bank), Peter Bekx (Eurostat), Robert Edwards (International Monetary Fund), Enrico Giovannini (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and Magdolna Csizmadia and Ivo Havinga (UNSD). This publication builds on and extends the concept paper prepared by the first Friends of the Chair Group and includes case studies based on papers presented at the Berne workshop. 6 At the request of the thirty-ninth session of the Statistical Commission (E/CN.3/2008/34), a second Friends of the Chair Group was formed in 2009 under the leadership of J. Steven Landefeld, Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce, United States of America, with the purpose of preparing more extensive and operational guidelines including case studies and practical knowledge material to guide countries in the process of implementing an integrated approach in their national statistical systems. The initial draft chapters submitted by members of the Group were discussed at a meeting, co-organized by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States of America and UNSD, on 7-9 December 2009 in Washington, D.C. The members of the second Friends of the Chair Group and participants of the Washington, D.C. meeting included Michel Girard (Canada), Ramón Bravo Zepeda (Mexico), Peter van de Ven (Netherlands), Ron McKenzie (New Zealand), Rashad Cassim (South Africa), J. Steven Landefeld, Shaunda Villones, Ruth Bramblet, Dennis Fixler, Bruce Grimm, Kristy Howell, Brent Moulton and Erich Strassner (United States of America), Richard Walton (European Central Bank), Peter Bekx (Eurostat), Adelheid Bürgi-Schmelz, Manik Shrestha and Mick Silver (International Monetary Fund), Carsten Boldsen (Economic Commission for Europe) and Paul Cheung, Magdolna Csizmadia and Ivo Havinga (UNSD). Members of the second Friends of the Chair on Integrated Economic Statistics contributed draft chapters and case studies for this publication and have been engaged in the review of subsequent versions of the Guidelines. A full working draft was circulated for global consultation in December 2010-January 2011 and comments were provided by 54 countries and organizations. The forty-second session of the Statistical Commission in 2011 endorsed the draft Guidelines and made suggestions for its finalization (E/CN.3/2011/37). In response to the call by the Commission for additional case studies, the contributions of Brazil, Finland and the United Kingdom are gratefully acknowledged. The incorporation of comments, additional contributions, substantive editing, revision and preparation of the final version was jointly undertaken by J. Steven Landefeld and Shaunda Villones (Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce, United States of America), Richard Walton (European Central Bank) and Magdolna Csizmadia, Ivo Havinga and Gulab Singh (UNSD). These Guidelines are published as part of the methodological series Handbook on National Accounting to assist countries in producing macroeconomic statistics that are consistent and coherent with short-term, annual and benchmark economic statistics. The Guidelines present the integration framework of economic statistics based on best current practices for the entire spectrum of statistical agencies, from countries with centralized and decentralized statistical systems, as well as from countries at different stages of economic and statistical development. 7 List of abbreviations and acronyms AEG Advisory Expert Group AES Annual Enterprise Survey AMNE Activities of multinational enterprises ANZSIC Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification ARC Advance Release Calendar BANFF Generalized edit and imputation system BEA Bureau of Economic